So many voices speaking at once. Warnings, declarations, news, findings…so much chatter, static in between. Who’s speaking the truth and how should we respond?
The firehose of information might feel like a new phenomenon, but it isn’t. Great men and women across history have wrestled with the competing voices, the chatter. Count yourself among them. This is your part of the history, your moment. Shine and win.
But what is your role in these days?
To understand our role, we need to know what God is saying. Unfortunately, the voice of God is perpetually drowned out by louder, more emphatic caterwauls. If you’re having a hard time hearing Him lately it’s not because He’s silent. He’s there, speaking as He always does and always will. So why can’t we hear Him?
In the film Contact, a radio signal is beamed to Earth from deep space. The excited scientists discover the signal is really a series of pulses. These pulses are in a distinct pattern of prime numbers, thus confirming the signal as intentional and intelligent.
Shortly after this discovery, the project leader enters the laboratory full of chattering voices from dozens of people, each with their own interpretation of the signal and its relevance. The leader listens to the signal, then turns up the volume. He continues turning the dial louder and louder, eventually drowning out those chattering conversations to the point where they finally hear what he heard much earlier – another signal, layered within the first. This second signal is subtle, more nuanced, but also jam-packed with additional, world-altering information.
The leader admonishes them, “There’s a lot more here, folks.”
The voice of God is like that second signal. Until you turn up the volume and drown out the voice of those around you, you might miss it. Or you might settle for the first impression, when He ultimately has a deeper knowledge He wants to impart to you.
I had a revelation about this recently while listening to the latest album by Crowder called Milk & Honey. David Crowder is quite gifted, but perhaps his greatest asset is his ability to use simple, acute messages and communicate profound truths. What C.S. Lewis did with the written word, Crowder accomplishes with melody and worship.
Track 8 is titled “God Really Loves Us,” and I didn’t think much about it when hearing it for the first time. Of course, God really loves us. Typical worship song.
It played.
I’ve got a friend
Closer than a brother
There is no judgement
Oh how he loves me
I’ve got a friend
Yeah, okay. I know that. That’s cool.
I was driving at the time, and when I drive, I turn the music up loud…real loud. Yeah, I’m that guy at the intersection with his stereo on level 42. Sorry. At least I leave my window closed. The song continued and eventually I took notice as a phrase was repeated over and over again.
Hallelujah
We are not alone
God really loves us
God really loves us
Hallelujah
Oh praise, my soul
God really loves us
God really loves us
The song had other verses, but it kept coming back to that simple, profound truth, time and time again.
We are not alone
God really loves us
God really loves us
I hit the back button and listened to it again. I even sang some of out loud. God got through to me, but it took repetition to accomplish this. What I had quickly glossed over on the first hearing was only communicated by the persistent messaging that never let up. I simply had to turn up the volume and keep listening.
It took about five miles before the tears started to well up, before the message penetrated the bustle of the world and the chatter of thoughts about road construction, politics, relationships, sports, and kids.
He’s always speaking – sometimes audibly, sometimes in our thoughts, sometimes through his Word. God is always speaking.
What struggles are you going through? What are your cares and worries, your upcoming decisions and your uncertain directions?
God is speaking about them. Can you hear Him? Are you tuning Him out like maybe you did with your parents, once upon a time? Did you listen then? Are you listening now?
Do you hear Him? What is He saying to you?
Ask Him how He sees the things you’re wrestling with. Ask Him for a solution to that great problem.
Ask Him about the curtains of the world, and to reveal what
and who lie behind them. Ask Him what you should do with that knowledge.
Ask Him to reveal those ugly things you carry, and what you should do about
them.
Ask Him about your next step, and how best to take it.
We often approach God with low expectations. We think that maybe He’ll speak to us, when and if He feels like it, and we don’t always anticipate an answer. God is not silent – that is not in His character. More often than not, the problem is that we’re just not turning up the volume loud enough. Unlike those foul screeches of fallen entities, He doesn’t shout. He persists, He’s calm, and He’s always broadcasting.
Do you want to hear Him?
Pray, read His Word, speak it out loud, play His music, worship Him.
Turn the volume up, all the way.
Break off the dial if you need to. The message is sometimes buried under layers of white noise and numbers – stats, data, reports, studies. Some of it matters, most of it doesn’t. The message you need is right there waiting for you, and you’re not likely to find it on social media or cable news. Turn up God’s volume and drown out the chattering voices.
There’s a lot more there, folks
Here is an excellent teaching and testimony about hearing the voice of God: Preparing Your Heart to Hear God’s Voice
Want to purchase a copy of Milk & Honey for only five bucks and bypass Amazon and Apple in the process? Buy it direct from Crowder here.
While we’re at it, here are some other great worship songs that hammer God’s messages home in the same way.
And here is one the best calls to action I’ve heard in a long time regarding the spiritual battle raging and what we as Christians can do about it.